Election failed credibility test – lobby group

The General Election failed the free, fair, verifiable and credible test, the civil society under the Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu has declared.

In their preliminary findings, the observer group said results released by the IEBC had numerous inconsistencies, falling short of the constitutional threshold of electoral process.

“The declaration of the presidential election results on August 11, revealed important contradictions and massive anomalies in all the numbers released by the IEBC on the official record on its website and through the chairman’s formal announcement,” human rights lawyer and transitional justice expert Njonjo Mue said.

He is also International Commission for Jurists chair and senior adviser of Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice.

“In short, numbers do not add up,” Mue said.

ICJ executive director Samwel Mohochi said they found out that 15,073,663 voter turnout was announced against the 15,518,971 that was streamed on television screens.

He also said the IEBC portal shows the number of votes cast were 15,591,217, creating a gap of 517,555 votes.

Mohochi said the total number of registered voters certified after the KPMG audit was 19,611,423, down from 19,646,673 after the clean-up.

The total number of ballots in the ballot packing list were 19,613,846, but the IEBC chairman declared the total number of registered voters as 19,637,061 giving a difference of more than 25,638 of the total register.

“Declaration of the presidential election results was 25,658 votes above the 19,611,423 in the register. There is a significant shift in the total number of registered voters. Registered voters number vary from certified figure in 45 counties,” Mohochi said.

Their finding also shows votes in 288 constituencies do not match details in Form 34A and are no grand totals for rejected votes in 25 constituencies.

He said the number of rejected votes on the IEBC’s portal are 403,489, against only 78,547 on 1,400 Form 34As they had analysed.

“There are glaring differences between results announced in the presidential election at county level and totals from constituencies in those counties. For example in Kisumu valid votes are 378,903 against 439,423 from the constituencies, showing a deduction for 60,520 votes,” Mohochi said. “Similarly, the valid votes in Kericho were announced as 294,215 against 303,470 votes on the portal repressing a loss of 9,255 votes.”

He said there were incidences where the voter turnout in some stations exceeded number of registered voters.

The lobbyists said the difference were not only huge, but also points to a problem with the election outcome as announced.

“At face value, they suggest a full audit of the result the IEBC has released and their reconciliation with authentic documents from polling stations. The amount of missing data a full week after the election calls into question whether the declaration of results could be made legitimately,” their statement reads.